


Grounded

by KaytiKazoo



Series: Be Near When I Call Your Name [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Established Relationship, Grant Ward Isn't Hydra, Hurt Leo Fitz, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-19
Updated: 2019-10-19
Packaged: 2020-12-23 20:48:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21087599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaytiKazoo/pseuds/KaytiKazoo
Summary: Fitz is injured and is asked (politely ordered) to stay behind on this mission. When the team returns, Ward takes care of his boyfriend.





	Grounded

They’d politely ordered him to stay behind for this mission, saying he needed to heal before he went back out in the field. He wasn’t even allowed in the war room to listen in.

Instead, he’d built three prototypes for better comms and trackers, and he’d even started a new delivery device for the dendrotoxin in case they weren’t able to bring guns into the mission. He was going out of his mind. Normally, he’d be at least running comms, so he knew everyone was safe. Here, in the lab, he didn’t know what else to do with himself to distract him from all the doomsday scenarios his brain came up with.

“This is all your fault,” he told the wound in his side that tugged if he moved too much. Simmons had been afraid he’d pull his stitches and start internally bleeding again. “I could at least be helping without you.”

It, lacking a mouth or sentience, didn’t respond.

“Now I’ve truly lost it,” he said, moving back to the delivery device he was building. It would have a limited charge but it fit inside the face of a watch. He’d had to borrow Ward’s watch, the newer one, the one he didn’t touch at night before bed, kept separate from the rest of his belongings. He would make it up to Ward somehow. 

It had been three days since the team had left, and he was trying. He felt so out of the loop that the little voice in the back of his head was certain that they were all dead and never coming home. He was going insane without anyone to talk to. This was an all-hands (save him, of course) mission and that meant everyone he talked to normally, even the lab grunts, were gone doing mission things.

Not being able to talk to Simmons and work through the delivery system and how to protect the wearer, it was lonely.

He was sad that that’d left him behind, that he was useless to them.

That’s what it boiled down to, Leo Fitz was sad. He missed the team so achingly deep.

“Please, come home soon,” he said into the abyss.

The abyss remained quiet, and he got back to work on his device.

* * *

He was asleep at the work table when the Zephyr proximity alert tone sounded, giving the crew time to set up the docking bay. Fitz jerked away and let out a small cry as his motion also jerked his stitches. He pressed his hand into his side and let out a breath before standing. It would take the Zephyr about 10 minutes to dock after the proximity alert, which gave him just enough time to change out of yesterday’s clothes and maybe not look like he’d been neglecting himself. 

He hurried, as much as he could, to his bunk and through changing. There wasn’t enough time for a shower or even to make himself look somewhat decent. There was a bloom of red on his bandage and he could already hear the lecture from Simmons but he was so close to hearing it that he didn’t care.

The Zephyr had docked and the team was stepping off as Fitz stepped into the bay. They all looked a little worse for wear; Daisy had a split lip, Ward was limping the smallest amount but was acting like he wasn’t bothered, Coulson was using May as a crutch. Simmons had a kind of weariness in her eyes that drew him to her like a magnet.

“Oh, thank God,” he said on seeing them. It had been six days since they’d left and he was ready to steal a  quinjet and fly it to them. The only rub of that plan was that he didn’t know how to fly the  quinjet . He was a genius, though, he’d figure it out. Rushing up towards Simmons first, he wrapped her in a hug that was six days and thousands of terrible scenarios past due. “I was going mad waiting for you.”

“I know, I’m sorry,” Simmons said, sinking into his arms. Ward tried to slink by, but Fitz reached out to catch his arm.

“Don’t go far. You’re next,” Fitz promised.

“Wouldn’t dream of going far,” Fitz replied and winked before he followed Mack out of the bay. 

“Let me see,” Simmons said, and she was pulling up Fitz’s shirt. “Fitz! You tore your stitches! I told you to relax!”

“I tried, but it’s bloody hard when no one would tell me if you were even alive or not!”

“How did you even do this? Were you,  _ you know _ ?”

“No, Jemma, I was not jerking off,” he said too loudly. Ward, Mack, Coulson, and May turned to look at them. He blushed and cleared his throat. “I  startled at the proximity alert.”

“Come on, then, off to the lab to patch you up,” Simmons said, clearly dead on her feet but going into doctor mode. “You really should have just been taking it easy, and relaxing. You have a hole in your body that isn’t supposed to be there.”

“I’m fine, Simmons.”

I’m the medical doctor here and I get the final opinion. This should not be bleeding still.”

“Fitz is hurt?” Daisy asked, falling into step beside them.

“No,” Fitz said at the same time as Simmons answered, “yes.”

“What happened?” Daisy asked.

“He was an idiot,” Simmons said as Fitz said, “nothing.”

“What did you actually do?” Daisy asked again, with that open expression Fitz knew was her  _ tell me the truth _ face.

“I’ve been working on a new delivery system for when the  icers aren’t viable. And I fell asleep at the lab table when the Zephyr alert went off.”

“Fitz, that is  _ not _ taking care of yourself,” Simmons scolded. “You can’t heal if you’re not sleeping or eating. Have you been eating in the lab too?”

“I might have had a meal or  two in there,” he admitted.

“Leopold, you are the worst patient!” 

“How many hours of sleep have you gotten this week?” Daisy asked, following them into the lab.

“Enough. Why the 20 questions?”

“We were worried about you, too, you know. We missed you out there,” she answered. 

“Should have at least let me quarterback from here,” he said, but there was a warmth in his chest from being missed too.

“Up on the exam table, shirt off,” Simmons ordered, heading towards the sink to wash her hands.

“Always trying to get me naked,” Fitz joked, but Daisy helped him up onto the table and he removed his button-up as requested. “I never realized how cold it is in here.”

“It is quite chilly,” Simmons agreed, drying her hands and stepping back up to him. “Let’s see what you’ve done.”

She pulled the bandage free from Fitz’s skin slowly and frowned.

“This should be much further along in the healing, Fitz. You really didn’t take care of yourself at all.”

“I’m alive,” he grumbled but let Simmons finish her exam.

“I’m going to have to  restitch this to stop it from bleeding any further. Can you lay down on your side, and just relax forward a little?”

Fitz did as she requested, and watched as she set up a syringe with local anesthetic and a suture kit.

“Is that my watch?” Ward’s voice came from behind him while Simmons tugged on a pair of gloves. “What did you do to my watch, Fitz?”

“I improved it,” Fitz said without turning.

“Why did you – why are you shirtless? Why are you – Are you bleeding?”

“A little,” he said at the same time as Simmons answered, “he was an idiot.”

Ward came over and Fitz leaned back towards him with a small smile.

“I was an idiot.”

“You weren’t even on the mission; how did you get hurt at the base?”

“I was an idiot,” Fitz repeated but with a smile on his face. “I needed some attention.”

“You could have asked.”

“You were gone for six days with no communication. I couldn’t actually ask you, to be fair,” he answered. 

“Okay, little pinch,” Simmons said as she numbed the area. “That just needs to sit for a few minutes. I’ll be back. Come on, Daisy, let’s give them a little privacy.”

Then, it was just Fitz and Ward in the lab together.

“What happened to your leg?” he asked. 

“I got pushed.”

“Someone pushed _ Grant Ward _ ?” Fitz scoffed. “Are they dead?”

“It was May.”

Fitz laughed, and then had to balance himself. It didn’t hurt anymore, but it tugged still. 

“What did she push you into? A pile of bricks?”

“Into a moving truck, actually.”

“What the fuck did I miss?” Fitz asked.

“I’ll tell you all about it later, but I really need to kiss you now.”

“It’s about time. Come down here.”

When Grant Ward kissed him, it was always fireworks in Fitz’s chest. He leaned his body easily into Ward’s solid chest, head tilted back and supported, and Ward slid his hands through the thick of Fitz’s curls. 

“Six days too long,” Ward murmured into his mouth. “Missed you, babe.”

“Missed you,” Fitz replied. Ward pulled away, but stayed pressed along Fitz’s back. 

“What are you doing with my watch?” Ward asked.

“I improved it!”

“I definitely didn’t need it improved; it works just fine.”

“Well, it works differently now.”

“What does that mean?”

“I’m using it for a prototype,” Fitz explained. “It’s going to be a new delivery device for the dendrotoxin, an area of effect instead of a shot, like a mist but I haven’t quite figured out how to shield the wearer or how wide the area of effect would be.”

“But my watch?”

“You have like, six watches.”

“What if that was my favorite?”

“It’s not, I know which one is your favorite. It’s the one Victoria gave to you, and you keep it separate. I wouldn’t use that, I know that there’s not a lot of things that you cherish but I know that. I know you, Grant.”

“You do,” he agreed.

“Besides, I’ll buy you a new one.”

“I don’t care about the watch,” Ward said. “I’m not super pleased that you destroyed my watch for a prototype when you should have been resting, like the doctor ordered.”

“I’m fine.”

“Now, because of this, you delayed your recovery so the next time a call comes in, you still won’t be able to come with us. You played yourself here.”

Fitz groaned and leaned his head back.

“No, it’ll be fine. I’m fine. I’ll be able to go.”

“See, that’s definitely not true,” Simmons said, returning with Daisy following. “Seeing as I’m the doctor here and I have final say on all medical decisions for the team. If I say you’re grounded, you’re still grounded.”

“As your boyfriend, I also have final say, and you’re not going out in the field if you’re injured.”

“I’m neither but I will physically keep you in the base and out of the Zephyr until Simmons says you can leave,” Daisy piped up from a chair behind Ward somewhere. 

“Okay, okay, I’ll stay,” Fitz said. Simmons settled in front of him with her kind eyes and warm smile. “I’ll be good.”

“Good, now stay still while I clean up your mess.”

* * *

He was sent to bed with a full belly and a promise to Simmons that he would sleep tonight. Ward followed him into the bunk and flopped into his bed with a grateful moan.

“I missed this bed,” he said, toeing off his shoes and flipping onto his side to watch Fitz get ready for bed. “I missed you.”

“I missed you, too. I was convinced they were going to come back without you, that they’d give me your  torn-up jacket or something and say your body couldn’t be found.”

“Wow, that’s a dark imagining.”

“I was terrified most of the week,” Fitz answered, starting to unbutton his pants. His lack of sleep was catching up with him and he fumbled with the button. Ward stood and stepped into his space. “They wouldn’t let me into the communications room, and said that I couldn’t contact you directly because it might compromise the mission, and it felt like I wasn’t a part of the team anymore, that I was a risk or something. I know it’s just because of this, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I wasn’t wanted.”

Ward’s fingers deftly undid Fitz’s pants and he pushed them off his hips, letting them fall effortlessly to the ground. 

“I want it to be clear. I want you.”

“I know you do,” Fitz said, playfully shoving at Ward’s chest. He played along and stumbled back as if Fitz could actually move him if he wanted. 

“We all wanted you there. Simmons kept turning to have you finish her thought, but you weren’t there. Daisy kept saying that she needed you to help the way you always do with computers. And you know I want you but I really wanted to just hold you after one of the last days when nothing went right and I just, I needed you there. Six days is the longest we’ve been apart since we got together, and it’s too long.”

“It is.”

“But I got through everything because I got to come back to you.”

“You’re secretly a sap, Grant Ward, and I love it.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too. Just keep coming home to me, okay? No matter what. You come home.”

“As long as you take care of yourself, Leo,” Ward said. “That’s all I ask of you.”

“Well, because you asked so nicely. Take me to bed, then, Grant.”

Ward lifted him up and carried him over to the bed, laying him out carefully and then covering him with his own body. 

“I love you.”

He left peppered kisses all over Fitz’ body, careful to avoid the fresh bandage, whispering softly into his skin, too soft for even Fitz to hear. 

“I love you.”

He drifted off to the soft brush of lips on his collarbone, slumbering peacefully and deeply for the first time in nearly a week. Ward settled in beside him, and followed suit, wrapping Fitz in his arms for some good, long, heavy and healing sleep, right here on the ground where they belonged together. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, it's me again, up here with a new FitzWard fic! This takes place in this magical fix it au where Grant Ward was recruited by Victoria Hand for SHIELD first (you know, Framework Good Boy Grant style) and is in love with Leo Fitz.  
I just want Good Boy Grant and Good Boy Leo TOGETHER in the SAME UNIVERSE being IN LOVE y'all!  
-K


End file.
